Think Twice
by Sanded Silk
Summary: My second songfic! -- Neji stumbles upon a girl on the streets. SasuSaku at the beginning- if you squint- and NejiSaku at the end.


New songfic! I listened to the song "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins, and fell in love with it. So, I'm using the lyrics of the song for this songfic. Done while listening to "Another Day in Paradise" (OMG HOW DID _YOU_ KNOW???)

SasuSaku if you squint at the beginning, and then NejiSaku at the end. :D --yay NejiSaku!!!--

**Disclaimer: Wish I owned the song, hopeless about the whole owning Naruto situation.**

--Sanded Silk-- ♥

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"Ugh..." Sakura fell onto her knees, her clothes in rags. Hunger, exhaustion, and the cold pulled her down onto the ground with merciless fingers, her dirty hair surrounding her sleepless, pale cheeks, her emerald eyes dull. Life for her had been especially hard on the streets during the freezing winter. Self-pity and desperation washed over her like waves when she realized her own legs couldn't hold her. 

Footsteps approached, and she looked up to meet the onyx eyes of a handsome, stoic young man with midnight-blue hair. He stopped to look down at her pitilessly, his eyes colder than the wintry night. Neither moved for a moment, and the air seemed stiller, colder, than before the stranger came along.

_She calls out to the man on the street  
Sir, can you help me?  
It's cold and I've nowhere to sleep,  
Is there somewhere you can take me?_

She reached up with one hand, shivering, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. The young man glared at her with steel-hard eyes, and walked on. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her throat closed as she helpelessly watched his broad back disappear, the stone-cold hopelessness settling in the pit of her empty stomach.

A tear rolled down her cheek.

_He walks on, doesn't look back  
He pretends he can't hear her  
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street  
Seems embarrassed to be there _

_Oh; think twice, it's another day for  
You and me in paradise  
Oh; think twice, it's just another day for you,  
You and me in paradise_

Sakura couldn't put in words the pain she felt as the young man's back rapidly disappeared, even if she could talk. She managed to sit up, straining to catch a last glimpse of his back as he crossed the street. He nonchalantly began to whistle, as if he'd already forgotten the young, dying woman he passed moments ago. She collapsed, eyes closed, the emotional pain wearing her vitality thin.

Then, different footsteps resounded on the concrete around her. They were poles apart from the footsteps of the heartless, onyx-eyed man who'd just passed- they weren't hollow and ominous, like the onyx-eyed stranger. They were thoughtful, and resounded pleasantly through the ground to the tips of her fingers. They were controlled, and yet not meek- confident, but humble.

But she didn't bother looking up. She knew what to expect as an answer.

Despite her stubborn pride, however, she turned her head around to look at the nearing footsteps, and met the eyes of a silver-eyed man with long chestnut hair and a stoic- but not cold- face.

She was the most beautiful, the most fragile thing he had ever seen. Even with all the dirt and grime covering her skin and ragged clothes, even with the energy in her eyes gone and the glossiness of her hair fleeting, she was- to him- extremely attractive.

_She calls out to the man on the street  
He can see she's been crying  
She's got blisters on the soles of her feet  
Can't walk but she's trying_

He stopped, and she stared. His eyes played multiple emotions; sorrow, pity, pride. Finally, he lifted his foot, as if to walk away, and Sakura turned her face away, trailing tears on the concrete, shoulders shaking. She couldn't bear to watch another cold-hearted stranger leave her on the concrete of the winter-struck city.

She waited to hear his footsteps leave, but instead, she heard nothing. Nevertheless, she refused to turn her head back toward the second stranger.

He stood there, at war with himself. Should he save this girl, who hadn't done anything to or for him? Or should he stop wasting his time and walk away?

_Oh, think twice..._

He bit his lip, confused.

_Oh lord, is there nothing more anybody can do?  
Oh lord, there must be something you can say?_

He listened to her soft sobs, watching her shoulders shake as she lay there with her cheek pressed against the pitiless concrete, and his heart nearly broke. Struggling to keep his face blank, he walked one step closer to the young woman lying on the cold, hard concrete, knelt down, and hefted her roughly up into his arms.

Confused- and, thankfully, not crying any more- Sakura turned her head to look questioningly at the handsome stranger who decided to take her away from the hell-hole of a street.

_You can tell from the lines on her face  
You can see that she's been there  
Probably been moved on from every place  
'Cause she didn't fit in there_

For the first time that day, he saw her face up close. Her skin, slightly covered in grime and dust, held traces of former beauty. Her mouth, framed by a pair of full, parched lips, was slightly parted. He could see, imbedded into the soft skin and the dull shade of her skin and eyes, that she had been through a lot of suffering for someone her age. He could see years of pain, of suffering, of hopelessness, all encompassed in those emerald orbs, threatening to leak out in the form of tears.

Sakura, again, couldn't put her emotions in words. She couldn't say how grateful she was for the stranger whose name she didn't even know. With a pale, fragile hand, she reached up and grasped the fabric of the stranger's expensive-feeling shirt, and smiled weakly at him when he looked down.

He gently shifted her delicate frame in his arms, almost smiling back, and walked on.

_Think twice..._

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**A/N:** My shortest story ever. :-/

Ah well. Please **_review_** and tell me what you think! XD

--Sanded Silk-- ♥


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